


Pet Friend Family

by ILikeCookiesLoads



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst, Family, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-11 05:32:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4423283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ILikeCookiesLoads/pseuds/ILikeCookiesLoads
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where Bunny and Jack became friends early on just for Pitch to interfere by kidnapping the young winter spirit during 300 years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Snowfall

Bunny was angry as he jumped out of his tunnels into the snow. It was Easter and although it was just a light snowfall it took away from the perfection that Bunny aimed for. He growled as he walked though the snow towards the winter spirit he knew was still in the forest. As he stepped into a clearing where a small frozen lake was he twitched his ears and growled.

“I know your there, come out you stupid snowflake!” he shouted looking around. 

A small blue eyed boy poked his head from behind a tree, looking at the giant rabbit with wide eyes, he opened his mouth before closing it and crouching down slightly. Bunny spotted him and walked towards him. The boy didn’t move, just watched the bunny walk towards him.

Bunny stopped right in front of the winter spirit and crossed his arms, “will you stand up for goodness sake?” Bunny growled.

The boy tilted his head before doing as he was told. 

“Can you explain this?” he asked gesturing towards the lake.

“Oh... well... it’s a lake.”

Bunny raised an eyebrow, before grabbing the kid’s wrist, “listen, I’m not playing ga...” he never finished the sentence as he spot the combination of terror and shock in the blue eyes, he let go.

The boy jumped back, looking at the giant rabbit cautiously.

Bunny looked from the boy to his paw, “I-I... sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said frowning, he didn’t think he had grabbed the boy that tight. 

The boy searched Bunny’s expression before shaking his head, “y-you just surprised me...”

Bunny hesitated before taking a small step forward, “do you know who I am?” he asked. 

The kid shook his head, “you see me though, so you must be magic, right?”

Bunny tilted his head before nodding, “you’re new,” he stood up straight, “that explains everything, I’m Bunny, the Easter Bunny.”

“Oh... I’ve heard the town talking about you,” he whispered.

Bunny smiled, feeling slightly proud, “yeah, I celebrate spring, I bring hope to the children by hiding the eggs, but because I do spring I like for it to be nice and pre-” he stopped himself realizing that the spirit probably considered his own season pretty too, he though for a second before coming up with the right word, “colourful, I like the flowers to bloom and for the grass to be green, if the snow is here the egg hunt is too easy.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter this year but, if you don’t mind, could you not make it snow on Easter?”

Jack nodded, “I can do that... I’m sorry I made it snow this year,” he said sounding slightly guilty as he pulled his staff though the snow.

Bunny smiled and nodded, “it’s fine, although... I’m surprised you didn’t know better, did your parents not explain the meaning of Easter to you?”

Jack shook his head and opened his mouth to explain but never got the chance.

“Not acceptable,” Bunny crossed his arms, looking annoyed, “don’t worry about it though,” he grinned at Jack, “how about after I finish the egg hunts I come back here and teach ya myself?”

“You have time to do that?” Jack’s eyes widened.

“Yeah well, usually I’m pretty busy but I can’t start making new eggs straight after Easter or they wouldn’t last so might as well as see that you know better than to cause a snowstorm at Easter," he said half joking. 

Jack’s eyes filled with hope as he span around, looking excited, “yes!”

Bunny laughed, “anyway, I’ve wasted enough time, you be here when I get back, okay?”

Jack nodded, “I won’t move from this spot!” he said excitedly. 

Bunny chuckled, “that sounds like dedication if I ever heard any,” at that he opened a tunnel “I’ll see you soon,” he said before jumping in leaving a small blue flower where he once was.

Jack waited, he sat down eventually and eventually also fell asleep. The next day Bunny arrived as promised, at first he didn’t spot the winter spirit half hidden under the write snow but as soon as he spotted him he chucked and hopped over.

“So, you were serious about staying there, hu?” he carefully swept the snow of him without waking him up, he frowned, “I wonder where your parents are?” he asked to himself. 

Jack whimpered making Bunny jump before waking the kid up, big blue eyes stared up at Bunny, at first confused then he gasped jumping up and banging his head against Bunny’s.

“Ow!” Bunny jumped back rubbing his head, Jack rubbed his head too, still looking a bit confused. Bunny couldn’t help but laugh at the confused look, “sorry, didn’t mean to make you jump, but I did tell ya I’d be back.”

Jack stared at him before remembering and gasped, “you actually came!”

“Of course,” he paused, “you thought I was lying?”

“Oh... well, most spirits don’t have the time for me.”

Bunny frowned and sat down in front of the kid, he almost flinched at the cold snow but held it back as he grabbed the kids hand, “where are your parents?” he asked.

“I’m not really sure... I... don’t think I have any,” he looked down at his feet. 

Bunny shook his head, “you must have parents, perhaps the Ice Queen? Old Man Winter?”

Jack shook his head, “don’t think so, I’ve never met them, just there minions.”

Bunny frowned, sniffing the kid, “where did you come from then? Who created you?”

Jack shook his head, “I dunno, I... all I know is the moon pulled me out of the lake, he told me I was Jack Frost and well... the wind is my friend... but I don’t think she’s my mom.”

Bunny tilted his head, “I see, sounds like ya had a past life, that makes sense, so you don’t remember anything before the lake?”

“Nope...”

Bunny frowned, “well that may be an accident or it could have been on purpose... supposed I can’t know,” he said crossing his arms. 

Jack tilted his head looking confused, “I don’t understand.”

Bunny nodded, “don’t worry about it, all it means is you were once human, the moon chose you to be a spirit for some reason, not sure why.”

“Oh, okay... so my parents are human?”

“Yeah... but... perhaps we shouldn’t think about that,” he looked at the spirit in front of him, he couldn’t be sure if he still had a family somewhere out there, he didn’t believe the moon would chose the child if he was living a good happy life, he would have at least waited. The kid was probably an orphan or something. Either way that wasn’t important now, that life was in the past and for now, the kid didn’t need to know what had once been.

“So... are you going to explain Easter?”

Bunny’s eyes filled with wonder at the hope filled blue eyes staring up at him, “of course I am, even a winter spirit should know about Easter,” he declared and then spent a good two hours explaining everything about Easter, the kid listened excitedly. 

“Wow...” Jack said when he finished, “I’ll make sure there’s no snow anywhere on the world during Easter, ever!” he shouted jumping up and onto the wind.

Bunny chucked, shaking his head, “don’t bother, half the globe isn’t in spring, just try and keep this half snow free, if you want you can reduce the snow on the other side but, you know, don’t worry too much, holding ya powers in ain’t healthy either mate, we don’t want snow on Easter but we don’t want a storm the day after either.”

“Oh, okay, I can do that.”

Bunny looked at the child, he had finished explaining Easter and wasn’t sure what to do now, he should probably start designing eggs for next Easter but, he felt kind of bad about leaving the kid to just wonder around alone, finally he made up his mind, “so, kid, I kinda gotta go, I have work to do but, how would you like it if we meet up again? I’m guessing that’s plenty of stuff left to explain to you and you seem a bit lonesome.”

Jack’s eyes filled with even more hope than before, “I’ll get to see you again?”

Bunny smiled, “yeah, how about I meet you here again in... say... three days?”

Jack nodded, “three days, here, I can do that!”

Bunny smiled and nodded, “good to hear, I’ll see you soon then, bye.”

“Bye!” Jack shouted as he landed on the ground, waving to the Bunny as he made a tunnel and left. 

Bunny wasn’t sure what to do about Jack, it only took a few more meeting to figure out that Jack was definitely just a child and not a very well taken care of one. He didn’t only lack parents and memories but a home and a lot of basic necessities. He began to meet with Jack at least once a week, he helped Jack by making sure he ate and sometimes brought him back to the warren to sleep. 

He was trying to find a home for Jack, he knew the warren was not a suitable home for winter spirit seeing as he often caught fevers when he stayed there, but he didn’t really have any ideas. Jack was clever, playful, curious and childish. Bunny became greatly attached to him... until next summer, that snowfall transformed into a huge, raging blizzard.

Bunny went to Burgess, shouting and screaming. The winter spirit was in so much trouble when he finally found him... except he didn’t. At first Bunny took it the boy was hiding. Bunny didn’t go to Burgess in several weeks, expecting Jack to go find him eventually, feeling all guilty and sad. But he didn’t...

Soon Bunny began searching for Jack, more worried then angered now. He searched the globe for the small winter spirit but never found him. Bunny had informed the guardians and plenty of other spirits to keep an eye out for him. Years passed, Jack seemed to have completely vanished. Spirits said he had probably died in some accident, some said he had been a mistake that had been corrected by some higher spirit, some said he was probably just hiding for attention... Bunny didn’t listen to any of them. He knew the child, and he was worried.


	2. The Rescue

Pitch walked calmly though the long shadow filled hall towards his ‘living room’, once there he smiled as he floated down towards a particular cage, it had been placed on the floor. In it a small winter spirit cuddled up against a wall, chains tightened around his throat held him to the ground, “good morning, my pet,” he whispered as he knelt down and reached hi hand in, stroking the spirit’s write hair. 

The child whimpered and trembled but didn’t bother to move. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Pitch whispered, “I’m so glad I got you, although you were a bit of difficult to train, remember when you used to put up such a fight?”

“I-I...” Jack began to say something before shutting up, cuddling his legs close.

“What is that?” Pitch asked, “I didn’t quite catch that.”

“N-Nothing...”

“No, I want to hear what you were going to say,” Pitch sounded angry.

“I-I just...” he closed his eyes, “I hate you! The only reason I don’t fight is b-because I don’t want to hurt and you know that! I-I just want Bunny back...” he began to sob.

“Well then, it’s a shame he doesn’t care about how much you hurt then, isn’t it?” 

“He cared about me...”

“Yes, but then that little blizzard changed that, he doesn’t care that you did it in self defence, you ruined his holiday, and now you’re paying the price.”

“But you planned it, that blizzard, you knew if you attacked I’d fight back...”

“I never denied that, did I?”

“Please... I want to go home...”

“Oh Jack... I’m afraid that won’t ever happen... do you have any idea how long you’ve been here?”

Jack shook his head slowly.

“Three hundred years, and in all that time, that Bunny that you so miss, hasn’t even moved a paw to find you, he hates you Jack, they all do.”

Jack didn’t reply just cuddled his legs closer, pulling on the tight chains as he cried. 

Pitch reached into the cage and stroked his head, “sh, my poor child,” he grinned suddenly pulling Jack’s hair and hitting his head against the bars of the cage, “you need to learn not to talk to your master that way, now go back to sleep before I force you,” he let go of Jack before leaving, the child cried into his knees for another hour before he fell into a nightmare filled sleep. 

As Bunny spotted the lights spread across the sky he sighed as he ran towards the North pole, “North, I don’t feel like a stupid group meeting three days before Easter, what is it you want!”

North frowned, Bunny had been extremely grumpy and particularly miserable ever since the disappearance of the winter spirit he had come to love, and even more so now near Easter when he couldn’t afford to put any time aside to search for him, “I apologize Bunny but it seems Manny has news for us.”

Bunny raised an eyebrow, groaned and sat in an armchair by the fire, “tell me when the others get here, I might as well as work while I wait,” he said pulling out an egg. 

Finally, once all four guardians were standing in the moonlight the moon chose to tell them what he wanted from them. With a shadow he showed the guardians something that horrified them all, Pitch was back. Pitch gasped, Sandy glared, North crossed his arms and Bunny growled. 

Then he did something that surprised them all even more, as he moved the light over the floor and a crystal began to move out of the ground, “he’s choosing a new guardian?” Tooth asked, clearly surprised.

Bunny’s eyes widened, “what? Why? We’re fine the way we are!” he sounded slightly offended but had no chance to say anything more as the light formed into a clear picture of a familiar winter spirit, “Jack...” Bunny stared at the image, “but... he went missing!” 

The image didn’t change but a small light moved over the globe, pointing at a certain location, “looks like that may be where he is?” North asked.

“Burgess, it is where he lived his whole life but... I searched the place, several times, no sign of him.”

“Well it looks like Manny wants us to search it again,” Tooth said fluttering up to the globe, she looked thoughtful before speaking, “Bunny... do you think perhaps... Pitch had something to do with Jack’s disappearance?” 

Bunny hesitated for a second before his expression turned to one of pure rage, “if he has I swear...” he clenched his paws into fists.

The guardians looked at each other hesitantly, “we should probably search for him,” North suggested, “we will sort out Pitch after finding child, we must hope for best.”

Once in Burgess the guardians split up, searching the grounds, Sandy searched the actual town along with Tooth while Bunny and North took the woods. They searched for hours, North suggested to take break, go find other guardians, but Bunny refused, eventually Sandy and Tooth gave up and came to the woods looking for them.

Bunny was angry at them for giving up hope so easily, until Sandy seemed to ‘sense’ something. Something close yet so very distant. He ignored Bunny who was shouting at him and simply turned and walked in the direction this strange feeling came from. 

Bunny stopped suddenly, shocked by this action, “are you even listening?”

“I think he wants us to follow him...” Tooth suggested.

North nodded, Bunny hesitated before sighing, “better be something good.”

Tooth smiled, “hey, keep hope and maybe it’s Jack.”

They followed Sandy to a clearing where a single small whole sat in the middle covered by and old abandoned bed. Bunny’s eyes widened, “Pitch’s lair... it must be... but... I’m sure this was not here before...”

“Probably made some kinda illusion to hide it, Sandy has strong magic and probably saw right though it,” Tooth said pleased.

Sandy smiled and formed a few wavy sand signs on his face obviously representing a blush. Bunny smiled, “this is perfect, come on, this is the only place we haven’t checked, Jack must be there!” his smile faded as he realized what that meant, “and so must Pitch,” his fists clenched “come on!”

The guardians all followed Bunny down into the lair and towards the main room. Tooth gasped at the sight of the bird like cages, they looked horrible. Bunny growled. 

“When I find Pitch I swear-!” Bunny never finished his sentence as North interupted.

“Bunny, calm, we must first find boy, he need us more.”

Bunny’s eyes widened as he though of Jack and nodded, sniffing the air he smiled, “I’d recognize that smell anywhere, that way!” he shouted and ran of as fast as he possibly could until he stopped, metres away from a bird cage left on the ground, a small bundle of white and blue sat in it, “Jack...” Bunny whispered, smelling blood.

The guardians were still catching up to Bunny when he ran of even faster, reaching the cage, “Jack!” he shouted, sounding panicked. 

The guardians were about to reach the cage when Pitch appeared form the shadows hitting them with a wave of nightmare sand, leaving only Bunny to take care of Jack. Although he barely even noticed Pitch as he desperately forced the cage open.

“Pitch...” North said getting up, glaring.

“North, how nice to see you old friend, been a while, hasn’t it?”

Meanwhile Bunny had opened the cage and was inside, he didn’t hesitated as he grabbed Jack and pulled him close, the child whimpered, flinched and pulled his knees close before opening his bloodshot eyes. Bunny felt his heart clench at the sight, “sh, you’re safe now.”

“B-Bunny?” Jack closed his eyes before opening them again, “w-what are you doing here?”

“What do you think ya gumby, I came here to save ya,” he cuddled the spirit close, holding back tears, “do you know how long I’ve been searching for ya? Ya gave me a right scare.”

“I-I’m sorry...” Jack closed his eyes cuddling up close before opening them and looking up again, “a-are you real?” he whispered.

Bunny’s heart ached and he couldn’t hold back tears any more “o-of course!”

“But... Bunny doesn’t cry... y-you’re a nightmare... about to hurt me... I-I know....”

“No Jack! Of course not... h-has he given you that kinda nightmare?” Bunny looked horrified, anger suddenly filled him as he turned to look at the guardians who were now fighting Pitch, “he’ll pay for that.”

“No!”

Bunny turned suddenly, surprised by Jack’s order, “w-what?”

“D-Don’t leave me! Even if you are a nightmare.... please...”

Bunny blinked, looked at Pitch, then at Jack. He made his choice as he pulled Jack closed “of course, whatever you want mate... I’m here for ya.”

Jack closed his eyes as if to fall asleep, he nodded, “promise?”

“Promise.”

Nightmare sand began to form above Jack’s head, Bunny blinked before growling and waving it away and calling Sandy over leaving only North and tooth to chase Pitch away, not that they needed anybody more at that moment, Pitch was still far too weak to fight the guardians of. 

“Sandy, I don’t know what Pitch did to him but his using some kind of black sand to hurt him in his sleep,” Bunny whispered as the sand began to reform, Sandy looked at it, touching it carefully it turned golden and made a dream. Jack went limp in Bunny’s arms as all the fear and sadness vanished from him.

Bunny smiled as dolphins appeared above the kid’s head. Sandy frowned as he picked some left over sand from the ground to look at. This wasn’t good, whatever it was. 

Meanwhile North was about to hit Pitch with his sword before he fazed though a shadow, appearing up high on one of the staircases, “well, well, I see you found my pet,” he said to Bunny who glared up at him.

“You will pay for this!” he shouted as he leant down and began to remove the chains form Jack’s neck. 

Pitch laughed, “oh but I won’t, you see, thanks to this little specimen here, I have created a new sand and it is perfect, it took years of testing but he was a very loyal test subject and even supplied me with the fear I needed to regain my power.”

“Pitch,” Bunny whispered between his teeth as he managed to remove the chains revealing horrible red and blue skin. Bunny pulled him even closer at the sight, as if to further protect him.

“Horrible, isn’t it? And he even believes you wanted this for him, as punishment for ruining your precious holiday with that horrible snow of his,” Pitch smirked at Bunny’s horror filed expression.

“Y-You’ve been telling him that this whole time?!” Bunny wanted to attack him so much but Jack’s soft whimper as he shouted made him calm down as he nuzzled the boy lovingly.

“Well in some way it’s true, when you first saw that blizzard you supposed the worse, you left the kid and perhaps you spent a little while searching after that but still... you surely could have found him had you really wanted to, but instead you left him here with me, and I’ve grown quite attached to him, took forever to train him you know?”

“He's not your pet and I won’t let you touch him ever again,” Bunny growled. 

Pitch laughed, “oh he’ll be mine pretty soon, this attack was unexpected and definitely a take back but as soon my plan goes into action I’ll kill all of you and take what’s rightfully mine, first Jack, then the belief of the children.”

“It will never happen!” North shouted.

Pitch simply laughed, “we will see about that,” he whispered as he vanished into the shadows.

Bunny growled but forgot about Pitch as Jack let out another whimper, Bunny carefully stood up, picking him up, “North... we need to go to the pole, it’s the only place where the temperature is suitable for him, he need medical treatment!” 

North looked where Pitch once stood before nodding, “we must rush, we will take sleigh?”

Bunny looked down at Jack and nodded, “whatever,” he whispered cuddling the child close. 

They were at the pole in no time and as Jack slept peacefully in bed North worked on inspecting the child and Bunny held on tightly to the kid’s hand, “Bunny... I am sorry but... you should probably go back now, it is nearly Easter and we can’t afford to lose believers now that Pitch is back.”

Bunny looked up at North shocked, hesitated, then nodded, “I know... but... I’ve searched for him for so many years... I can’t believe Pitch had him all that time...”

“The way he is now, Bunny, he won’t wake up for a few days anyway, if you leave and come back as soon as Easter is over he will probably still be asleep and waiting for you.”

Bunny nodded, “yeah, I know,” he stood up, “you better take care of him, North, if he wakes up alone he’s sure to try something stupid...”

“I’ll have someone with him at all moments, don’t worry, he’s safe with me.”

Bunny nodded, kneeling down and nuzzling Jack before standing up straight, “I’ll be back as soon as possible.” 

North nodded as Bunny made a tunnel and left.


End file.
